Folding easel



DCC. 5, H V. MARSH FOLDING EASEL Filed Jan. l5, 1930 Patented Dec. 5, 1933 FOLDING EASEL Harry V. Marsh, Chicago, Ill. Application January 13, 1930. serial No. 420,361

7 Claims.

The present invention relates to an advertising device and has particularly to do with an easel poster.

At the present time, there is a great number of so-called cut outs and posters employed in advertising. These vary in size from a height of three or four inches to several feet. The stock, that is, the material employed in connection therewith, when large, must be a heavy cardboard, and, therefore, such cut outs or advertising materials are very expensive. Even though of very heavy stock, such cut outs and posters are fragile and lose sightliness when any portion thereof becomes bent or frayed.

There is a demand for large posters in which the materials are less expensive, and it was t0 meet this demand that the present invention was conceived. Already, it has been proposed by others to use paper sheets, reenforce these sheets, and apply thereto a standard or support to hold the sheet upright.

So far as the applicant is informed, these have not been entirely successful, and in style and design the present invention differs from any other type of reenforcedposter.

One of the great advantages of a paper poster, in addition to its low cost, is the compactness with which it may be shipped. 1t lends itself readily to folding. Thus, in a relatively small space a very sizeable advertising placard or poster may be shipped, preferably in conjunction with the goods with which it is to be used.

The objects oi the present invention, among others, include the following:-

Superior reenforcement for a vpaper sheet intended .to be employed as a part of a poster.

An improved support 0r standard for a poster. An unique foldable backA or standard for supporting a paper poster.

An unique combination between a standard and a paper front poster in which the standard is foldable, the connecting means between the standard and paper admitting of compensation for distortion due to folding.

An unique combination of paper sheet, reenforcement therefor, and standard for the support of said paper sheet in extended position.

' These, and such other objects as may hereinafter appear, are obtained by the novel construc tion, unique arrangement, and improved combination of the several elements which constitute the invention, two forms of which are illustrated in the accompanying sheet of drawing, hereby made a part of this specification, and in which:-

Figure l is a rear perspective View of paper (Cl. llll- 146) sheet, the reenforcement thereof, and of the supporting standard;

Figure 2 is a section along the line 2 2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a transverse section along the 3 3 of Figure l;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary horizontal section on the line 4 4 of Figure 1; and

Figure 5 is a longitudinal section of a modified form of the invention in folded position.

Like reference characters are used to indicate similar parts in the drawing and in the description of the invention hereinafter given.

Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 may be read conjointly.

The front of the device comprises a thin sheet 10 which is of any suitable material, `such as paper, and which ordinarily has upon its iront face advertising matter which is to be held to the view of the public for advertising purposes.

At the top and bottom of sheet 10, there are reenforced members designated l1 and 12. These members are of stout stock and are adhesively applied or otherwise rigidly secured to the material of sheet l0 adjacent its top and bottom whereby to provide spreaders therefor generally coextensive with the top and bottom edges of the sheet. In the present construction, the spreaders 11 and 12 are adhesively applied to the sheet 10 over one entire surface thereof, there being no unglued portions therebetween to permit of the 85 entry of supporting members, as has been suggested by others.

Between the members 1l and 12 is a stretcher 13 which is divided by scores coextensive with its length and generally parallel to one edge into a strip section 14 and a wing 15, the scores being designated 16 and 17.

A tongue locking member 19 is formed of the material of stretcher 13 intermediate the scores 15 and 17 by a slit 18 comprising an oblique section extending upwardly from the end of score 16 and then curving about to form in the tongue 19, which is transversely scored at 20, a notch 21 which looks in a shallow seat 22 in the wing 15 at the end of the straight portion of the slit. rThe tongue 19, as shown, takes for its structure parts of both strip 14 and wing 15 and is articulated transversely thereof to lock strip 14 and wing 15 at a ninety degree angle.

So articulated and locked by tongue 19, the 105 strip 14 may be held ilat against the back of sheet 10 by means of the fastening members now to be described and which are secured to the strip 14 and strips 11 and 12. l

The strip 14 is generally rigidly secured t6 the 110 line 60 spreader 12 by a staple, rivet, or other member so that movement relative to the member 12, except angular, is impossible. At the other end, the stretcher 13 is provided with a short longitudinal slot 23. Through said slot 23 a fastening member 24 projects, the head of said fastening member being wider than the slot 23 and the body of said fastening member being secured in the member 11 so that a part of the shank thereof is in slot 23.

It will be noted that scores have been arranged transversely of the strip 14 and the wing 15 at convenient points, these being marked and,

31. When it is desired to pack the device for shipment, it is usual and customary to fold the one section of the member 10 ovei` upon the middle face of such member, and thereafter to fold the other section of said member 10 over the already articulated remaining portions' thereof.

To do this, there necessarily must be some play between the sheet 10 and the stretcher 13. This necessary play is obtained through the employment of the slot 23, the fastening member 24 riding upwardly in the slot 23 a sufficient distance to compensate for the difference in the folded extension'of the stretcher 13 and the folded extension of sheet 10 when the two are fastened together when articulated. When the stretch 13 is folded about the sheet 10, in, say, three sections, the material of the stretcher being lightly slit or deeply scored, it becomes slightly extended over its upright position in respect to the length of sheet 10.

To set up, it is only necessary to unfold the sheet 10, turn the wing 15 of the stretcher to an angle of ninety degrees to the strip 14 thereof, and lock the tongue 19 in position, whereupon the member 14 is extended, the end of the slot 23 engaging the fastening member 24 on member 10 to extend the member 10, or spread it so that it presents a flat surface intermediate the spreaders 1l and. 12. Strip 14 is in proximity to the back of sheet 10 when the latter is thus extended. l

The relative position of the slot 23 and fastening member 24 Vand their form, the particular type of cut out, lock, and the folds of the material may be altered to suit the requirements of any particular case, and the description of these parts is purely relative.

In Figure 5, a different form of the invention is disclosed. In such form of the invention, there is no slot 23, and the two fastening members in the strip 114, which corresponds to the strip 14 in the previously described form of the invention, are firmly secured in the spreaders 111 and 112, which correspond to the spreaders 11 and 12 in the earlier illustrated form of the invention.

An additional lap over fold 30 is made in the sheet 110, corresponding to sheet 10, so that,

. when the strip 114 and the stretcher 113 are articulated at a ninety degree angle to one another and the sheet 110 stretched, the material obtained by the lap fold 30 will be available to provide the additional material in sheet 110 to compensate for the difference in extent between these members when articulated and extended. The extra material in the sheet 11G compensates for the stretching of the device, the Yfold taking care of the additional material which needs to be present when the device is set up.

It is perfectly apparent that, instead of using the single fold or wing easel shownin the pres--v ent illustrations, a double wing easel may be employed, and that the easel may ber of many materials. It does not have to be of the collapsible or foldable type to incorporate the entire invention.

I claim:

l. A poster comprising a flexible sheet, reinforcing members therefor at the opposed ends thereof, and a standard intermediate said reinforcing members, said standard having a longitudinal score for the longitudinal folding thereof and a plurality of transverse scores for the collapse thereof, there being a rivet in one of said reinforcing members and an elongated slot in said standard through which said rivet projects whereby to compensate without separation of said sheet and said standard for the difference in the extent of said'sheet and said standard when conjointly folded transversely and when extended, said standard being held rigid against collapse on said transverse scores by the folding of said standard upon said longitudinal score.

2, The device described in claim 1, vand in which vsaid standard vhas interlocking sections adapted to maintain said standard in extended position when folded upon the longitudinal score therein.

3. A collapsible poster device comprising a sheet of flexible material having stiffening strips at its upper and lower edges and a flexible standard having a longitudinal score and having one section secured to the sheet at its upper and lower edges only, said standard when folded along its longitudinal score being rigid and stretching the poster sheet, said device having means for compensating for the difference betweenthe relative extents of said sheet and said standard when the device is extended and when it is collapsed.

4. A collapsible poster device comprising a sheet of flexible material having strips of reinforcing material at its upper and lower edges, said strips having one whole face adhesively applied to the surface of said sheet, and a flexible standard foldable longitudinally and having one` longitudinal section secured at its ends against the faces of the strips, said standard being noncollapsible when folded longitudinally, said device having means for compensating for the difference between the relative extents of said sheet and said standard when the device is ex-A tended and when it is collapsed.

5. A collapsible advertising poster comprising a sheet of flexible material, reinforcing strips adhesively applied to said sheet at its ends, and a flexible standard foldable longitudinally and having the ends of a longitudinal section secured against the exposed faces of said strips, the securing means at one end constituting a sliding connection to compensate for the difference between the relative extents of said sheet and said standard when the device is extended and when it is collapsed.

6. A collapsible poster device comprising al slot therein, and a pin through said slot into onevv of said strips, said standard When folded longitudinally being non-collapsible and engaging said pin to force said strips apart to extend said sheet.

, 7. A display card comprising a body portion scored for folding along a desired line, an easel secured to said body on one side of said line of scoring and having an aperture on the other portion overlapping the sides of said aperture, said connectingmeans being self-acting to provide for connected folding of said portion of the body and easel when the easel wing is parallel to the body and being self-acting to provide support for said portion of the body when the easel Wing is in its outwardly extending position.

HARRY V. MARSH. 

